You can always expect there to be unhappy fans and plenty of criticism to go around when the first of the major preseason college football polls are released around this time every year. Oklahoma fans don't always agree with where the Sooners are positioned in the initial Associated Press Top 25 and coaches poll, but it is a rare occurrence when Oklahoma is not one of the top 25 to begin a season.
This is one of those rare occasions. Earlier this week, Oklahoma was excluded from the preseason coaches poll top 25, which caught Sooner fans and many others across the college football landscape by surprise. The general expectation among the media experts who closely follow college football was that OU would be somewhere around 23, 24 or 25 when the preseason coaches poll was released.
Sooner Nation surprised by Oklahoma's preseason ranking
That top-25 projection for the Sooners was much closer than most fans may realize. OU was the first team left out of the top 25. The Sooners were 26th with 221 votes, just 26 shy of replacing Boise State at No. 25 and 41 away from commanding the No. 24 spot and knocking Texas Tech back a notch. So, come on, what's all the fuss about, really?
Would Oklahoma fans be that much happier if OU was No. 24 or 25 instead of 26th? I'm gonna wager, probably not. Or at least they shouldn't be.
Sooner fans are naturally disappointed that Oklahoma wasn't included in the top 25. After all, this was the first time since 1999, Bob Stoops' debut as the OU head coach, that the Sooners were not ranked in the preseason coaches poll as one of the top 25 teams to begin the season.
What this is really all about is perception versus reality. All we read or hear about when one of the major college football rankings comes out are the 25 teams that are included. And even then, most of the hype and headlines are focused on the top 5 or 10 teams. Based on the votes cast, there is very little difference between the No. 24 spot, the No. 25 spot and the No. 26 spot in the coaches poll, but the perception is Oklahoma, at No. 26, is not a top-25 team.
The Associated Press Preseason Top 25 is scheduled to come out on Monday. It will be interesting to see if the media members who cover college football will include Oklahoma as one of the top 25 teams to open the new season. The Sooners have been ranked in the AP preseason poll 66 times in the 89 previous polls.
But even if Oklahoma ends up being shut out of both of the two major preseason polls, if the Sooners take care of business on the field and win their first five games of the season, as many think they will do (which would include quality victories over a ranked Michigan team and Auburn), they will quickly find themselves among the top-25 teams. What happens after that is up to them and the schedule.
There have been a boatload full of way-too-early, post-spring and preseason top-25 projections for the 2025 season since the last college football game was played. In many ways, it's like the weather forecast. If you don't like what it is, just check around. You're bound to find a forecast somewhere that meets your liking.
In the college top-25 ranking business, it all comes down to win your games (and keep winning) and you're in.
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